Thread by @ChecchiaPaul

1/ I usually avoid directly responding to individual examples of misinformation. I find it to be too tiring and most importantly I am reminded of the Twain quote: “Don’t argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”

2/ But I do feel the need to highlight one foolish statement by an infamous “MD Senator”. (news.yahoo.com/rand-paul-clai…)

I will just remind everyone of my posts about ivermectin in which I tried to present a balanced approach to the data.

3/ To repeat: Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug that was originally used to clear mice, cattle, and other animals from worms. It really is an amazing drug that was then utilized in humans for all sorts of bad parasites that are everywhere in the world.

4/ As a direct quote from this review article (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…): “Ivermectin's impacts in controlling diseases which blighted the lives of billions of the poor and disadvantaged throughout the tropics, is why its discoverers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine…

5/ …in 2015 and the reason for its inclusion on the World Health Organization's (WHO) “List of Essential Medicines.”

So why use it for COVID? There have been several studies looking at its antiviral properties, specifically in RNA viruses…coronaviruses.

6/ There have been numerous studies and reports over the past 18 months looking at its impact on this pandemic. In addition to the link above, here are another two metanalysis of all these studies. (journals.lww.com/americantherap… )

7/ To directly address the notion that there is some conspiracy about studying this drug in this setting, I refer you to this review of ALL the studies.
(cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.10…) Please realize that there is no conspiracy theory about this drug.

8/ Look at this last link and see that the PDF copy of the analysis is 159 pages long. There is nothing hidden. There are a lot of headlines and tons of comparisons to hydroxychloroquine. Stop that. Look at the data if you are interested. You know what it will show?

9/ We still have no idea if it really works. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it works in only certain populations. There is enough evidence to be intellectually honest and say there might be something there.

10/ However, there is also enough evidence to be intellectually honest and say it is no way a home run that wipes COVID off the earth.

11/ 1. The data specifically in patients receiving ivermectin after exposure looking at whether it prevents progression to admission to the hospital is very sloppy.

12/ However, reading through those studies, it yields a percentage range from 10% all the way up to an 85% success rate in keeping people out of the hospital (again, very, very sloppy data).

13/ There is only one study that hits the 85% range; all the others are in the mid to lower range. Please read these attached links and look to see just how biased, poorly run, poorly published, and unclear even the best studies are with the drug.

14/ Yet, let’s go with the highest number and assume for this discussion that there is an 85% reduction.

You know what has a >90% to 95% protection…vaccines!

2. Ivermectin is safe when utilized correctly. However, it can cause significant liver damage.

15/ It has only one human approval, but dozens of approvals for horses, cattle, dogs, and other animals. That one human approval is for intestinal parasites.

16/ The number of human patients reported and studied who have used ivermectin for COVID numbers in the less than 10000…anywhere. It is nowhere near an FDA approval process.

17/ You know what has now been delivered and constantly studied in over 250 million people…mRNA vaccines.

3. To address the use of this drug in children. Please realize that there are exactly 5 peer-reviewed reports of ivermectin use for COVID in children.

18/ Yes, there are dozens using this drug in other infections in children, but there are less than 20 children who have been studied and reported on in scientific studies in the world using ivermectin in COVID infections.

19/ You know how many children between the ages of 12 and 18 years have received at least one dose of a vaccine? About 11.8 million!

I like data sets with more zeros.